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Language Matters: What Supporters Say is Not Always What People with Cancer Hear

I was healed from cancer in 90 days! God's glory was displayed in my life in such a major way! I knew I was coming into this with VICTORY and coming out of it in VICTORY! My faith was elevated to another level. It was only a season of my life that came and went, TO GOD BE THE GLORY! This happened at a time when I was going to move to Atlanta Georgia to pursue what God has called me to do. One of those things was Acting. It seemed that at that time everything was working in my favor.

Delena

I was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) at the age of two in 1981. I was sent to Riley Hospital for Children for assessment and to create a treatment plan. At the time of my diagnosis, my mom was a single mother of two young daughters. My father passed away from Ewing sarcoma in April 1979. I was eight months old, and my sister was four when he passed.

Amy

It was July 2014, I got up and went for a quick morning jog before work. It’s Iowa, it was hot and humid, but I was unusually winded after that jog. I figured it was due to being humid outside and finished getting ready to go to work (I was a registered nurse at a physician’s clinic doing triage). During the day, I continued to feel a little winded and noticed I had a cramp in my calf. The nurse in me said to ignore it, that I was overreacting, but I decided to call my physician. She directed me to my local ER for fear of a blood clot.

Kari

I am writing this in 2022, but I never would have believed when acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) struck my daughter in 2013, that it would feel like we were back at step 1.

Philadelphia positive B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Ph-positive ALL)

Krisha

I started noticing some things were "off" with my body. In early August 2022, my daughters noticed several large, unexplained bruises on my legs. I just brushed them off as being clumsy or running into something. Then, while lying in bed reading to one of my daughters, my lower jaw and lip went numb, like when you have Novocaine. I got up and moved around, and it got better. This started to be a daily occurrence, and about a week or so later, I woke up and could not open my mouth. I thought I had TMJ, so I called my dentist. He had me come in and looked at my mouth/jaw.

Mara

I was in my second to last year of nursing school and just over one year into my marriage when the headaches became too much to bear. I was 21. I was tired all of the time, but I was working in a busy ER and going to class when I wasn't at work. I had lost some weight, but I had been exercising more and getting a lot while working in the ER. I had a cough, but they tell you that you'll be sick a lot when you're in nursing school. Unfortunately, I happened to touch my neck one day while studying with classmates for a big exam. There was a lump there that I had never felt before.

Thomas

Before I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma (MM) at age 34, my life looked very different from what it is today. I was a husband and a father. I had a full-time job at the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and I worked out a lot. And now? Well, I still work out a lot; that’s never changed, and I’ll always be a father. But the rest of it? It’s all gone away. And I couldn’t be any more at peace with it than I am now.

Athletic blood cancer survivor standing with finisher and baseball cap

Merton

On November 3, 2014, I drove to work and, upon arrival, knew that something was seriously wrong with me. I called my love, Holly, and informed her that I could not drive myself home as I was afraid of hurting someone else. She came to my work to pick me up and told me we were going to go to my primary care physician to demand a complete blood panel workup. At this point, I was told by my primary care physician that I was suffering from systemic gout. I was prescribed multiple rounds of steroids and a pill that was supposed to break up the shards that were affecting my joints.

Michael and Ashlee

Michael and Ashlee have a unique mother-son relationship. They share a podcast about their cancer journey. They have a website and a YouTube channel, and, yes, they even do rap songs about their hospital experiences together.

middle aged white man wearing glasses and a hospital gown sitting on a hospital bed with his son and two daughers

Lori

When my husband Ken was first diagnosed and treated for AML it felt like we were trapped in a fierce storm and being tossed about in a fury of wind. My husband Ken was diagnosed with AML (acute myeloid leukemia) and received intense treatment, spending a total of 120 days in the hospital in 2019, culminating in a bone marrow transplant (BMT). We are so grateful that his only sibling was a viable match as many patients struggle for years searching for a donor.

Young man in black t-shirt with leukemia in a hospital bed with a medical professional standing next to him wearing a mask

Matt

I’ve lived a mostly normal 27 years on this earth. A life filled with wonderful academics, Division 1 athletics (pole vault), financial internships, and fantastic sales roles at companies I really enjoyed.

However, my life changed drastically on February 28th, 2023.

In the middle of the night on that Tuesday, I was woken up by a call from an unknown number. I let it ring through… maybe it was spam? Then they called again.